Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Hello all. I hope this post finds you all well. It's been about 2 weeks since my last post so I will catch you up on what has been going on with Ben and Sophia.

Ben had his CT scan on February 3rd and the results showed no cranial pressure, but did show the metopic suture fully closed. Ben did so great during the CT. We were advised to keep him up until midnight the night before and give him a bottle and let him go to sleep and then wake him up at 4 am and keep him awake until the CT was performed. We thought this would be horrible for him but he did okay. He wasn't happy to be kept awake, but it wasn't horrible. We were able to keep him awake all the way up until we got in the car. On the way to the hospital, I sat in the back of the car to try and keep him awake but I failed :). He passed out! I tried pinching him, tickling him, etc and he didn't respond at all. Normally he doesn't like car rides, but he didn't mind that one since he was so tired. It's weird we have a lab that doesn't like water and a baby that doesn't like car rides, go figure! ;) When we got to the hospital they called us back and he did awesome! He just laid there and the CT took about a minute. What a champ he is! I was so thankful we didn't have to put him under anesthesia. Ben did much better than I did, I couldn't hold back the tears. I think it was some emotions coming out in me because I knew it was the start of a long journey on a path we wished we didn't have to go down.

On a side note, when we called to cancel Ben's surgery with Dr. Igbase (the doctor that does the endoscopic procedure), Seth asked them how many metopic suture surgeries he had performed and the nurse said that he had done one! Really, only one? I think we made the right choice. There is no way I am going to let a doctor operate on my son that has only done the surgery once!

We are awaiting a date for the surgery from Dr. Singhal's office and I will let you know it when I get the call. In the meantime, here are some diagrams from some of my Cranio mom's that helps explain what they do during the procedure. It is much better to see it in a diagram that googling it where you get bloody images that will turn your stomach upside down.

The below is an explanation of the CVR (Cranial Vault Remodeling) and the FOA. From my understanding, the CVR procedure "takes off a portion of the skull on the top and front/sides. The surgeon then cuts and manipulates the skull so that it is placed back on in such a way that the brain has room to grow and cosmetically look better."

The FOA (Frontal-orbital advancement) "helps correct the browline, which is often smaller than it should be. Kids with closed metopic sutures often have a "V" shaped brow line that is too small. The closed suture keeps the brow line from growing at the normal rate. This procedure also helps protect the eyeballs in the orbital socket.

I will ask for more clarification on these two procedures when we see Dr. Singhal again, but for now-that is the information I have on the procedure.

Ben had an eye appointment to check on his lazy eye issue and they said he was fine. So, no worries there.

The week of February 6th was a big week for our little guy. He started daycare on Feb 7th, he slept through the night (10:30 - 5:00) all week, he discovered his hands and puts them in his mouth a lot, he is smiling often, and he got baptised! I love his little smile, it makes my day! Seth's parents and brother (Scott) came in town to see him on his baptism day along with Papa & Grandma Arth, my mom (Grammy), and my sister and brother-in-law-the Godparents (Carie & TJ). We had Seth's parents over for the Superbowl game and some extra cuddle time with Ben for Grandma.

Today we took Ben to the doctor because we wondered if he had pink eye and the doctor confirmed that he did. It sounds like all the kids at daycare have had it and he is the last to get it so hopefully it doesn't spread throughout the kids all over again. The doctor's office weighed him and he is at 12 lbs, 3.5 oz and 23 3/4 inches tall. WOW! He is growing up so fast!

Sophia is doing so much better. She has had two acupuncture treatments and it took some time but she is finally starting to act like herself. She went about 4 days without eating and we were starting to get very concerned. We are so glad she is feeling better!

Thanks again for all the prayers. For now I feel like we are doing well. Since we made the decision on which surgery to go with, I feel like we have been able to move forward and enjoy our little guy.